The Chairs

The Chairs received its English premiere at the Royal Court in a double-bill with The Apollo de Bellac by Jean Giraudoux. A ‘tragic farce’ about the absence of meaning in life, it stood out from the wave of ‘kitchen sink’ realism that had followed Look Back in Anger and provoked debate about the merits of an arts theatre vs. a socially committed one. It was the first time that an Ionesco play had been publicly performed anywhere in Britain.